Lifting and Handling Injuries at Work

According to statistics held by the Health and Safety Executive,  injuries  to the back  are one of the most frequent  causes of  absence from  work and back injuries  generate a significant proportion of injury compensation claims.

The main Health and Safety regulation on  back injuries is the  Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 but it does not just refer to  injuries to the back but to any musculo-skeletal injury from a defined and distinct manual handling task in a workplace.  An employer is required to risk assess lifting, pulling and pushing tasks. A risk is presumed to arise when the load imposed on am employee exceeds the loads set out in the table below.

This is only the initial guideline filter. If the load or object  being moved exceeds the above  limits, a much more detailed risk assessment is then required and the manual handling task must either be avoided, if avoidance is possible, or if not,  the risks must be  reduced to the lowest level reasonably practicable  and the employee must then be properly trained. Training must be repeated on a regular basis.

These claims must now be formulated in negligence  unless the employer is an emanation of the  UK state such as the NHS.

There is often an issue in back injury compensation claims which involve a slipped, ruptured or herniated intervertebral disc as to  the precise cause of the injury and financial loss, because  medical evidence often  reveals age-related degeneration  of the  spine.

We are familiar with running all forms of manual handling claims so why not take advantage of our free first appointment facility? Contact us to see if we can help you with you manual handling compensation claims.